Bush Wired

This blog is dedicated to discussion of George Bush's "Mystery Bulge" seen in the Presidential Debates. It is also a place to post your links to other relevant information on Bush using an earpiece and receiving "ghost" coaching in the past.... evidence is mounting. Could this be a serious news story? Is Bush wired?

Thursday, March 03, 2005

CONFIRMED! KARL ROVE met with NY TIMES Editor before Bulge story was "killed" !!!

The other day I decided to bring the Bush Bulge mystery back "on-topic" and focus on the many unanswered questions in this odd conundrum instead of criticism of the media for not reporting this important story... that is, until I read this juicy tidbit of information passed on by the Newsrack Blog :

According to New Yorker Magazine's, Nicholas Lemann, in a non-Bulge related column, KARL ROVE met with the New York Times' executive editor BILL KELLER for cocktails on October 22nd, 2004. This meeting was 3 days before the Times' "spiked" story on the bulge was originally set to run in the Times, and 5 days before the story was ultimately killed by Keller. [While this story isn't exactly new, it ran about 2 weeks ago, its taken this long to "connect the dots" and notice the extremely suspicious timing in regards to the Bulge story's demise at the Times.]

It has long been alleged that Rove placed a call or some sort of "pressure" on the Times' editors to "kill" the Bulge story before the Nov. 2nd elections. In fariness, Times Public Editor, Daniel Okrent, responding to BushWired's allegations of Rovian interference regarding the Bulge story, stated, "I have never heard this, nor do I believe it."

Perhaps its time to start believing!

Details of this conversation are clearly outlined in the New Yorker article titled "FEAR AND FAVOR - Why is everyone mad at the mainstream media?" (see the full article HERE) . While the revelations are not Bulge-specific they certainly show how Rove and the Bush Team operates, applying pressure to the press, and how the press responds to such pressure.

The article states that Keller actually asked Rove what he thought of the Times' coverage... resulting in a litany of complaints and allegations from Rove. The column goes on to say:" Keller took his time describing the conversation, to suggest that he wasn’t dismissing the criticisms [Rove's] out of hand. “Your initial reaction, especially in someone as ferocious as Rove, is to drop into a defensive crouch,” he said. “But I try not to do that. I listened, with a fair measure of skepticism, because a lot of it is calculated. But there was some genuineness to it. He went through a long litany of complaints. I do think he was channelling a feeling about the New York Times that’s out there in the land, that we should be concerned about, or at least aware of.”

Was Keller, or the Times concerned enough to "spike" an important pre-election story on the Bulge? Do the previous allegations of Rove calling the Times to apply "pressure" carry more weight now that we know of this meeting? To steal a line from Newsrack blog... "Daniel Okrent's disbelief notwithstanding, Lemann's piece suggests that Keller would have been pretty receptive to such a phone call."

I agree, and again, the sources that first broke this story to BushWired have turned out to be correct. Rove did, in fact, have contact with NYT Executive Editor shortly before the Bulge story was "killed".

There is no recent statement from Mr. Keller on these revelations, but lets look again at a statement from Keller that ran in the Times on November 1st (Full story HERE) ... AFTER the Bulge story was killed, and AFTER his meeting with Rove.

"I can't say categorically you should not publish an article damaging to a candidate in the last days before an election,'' he said. "If you learned a day or two before the election that a candidate had lied about some essential qualification for the job - his health or criminal record - and there's no real doubt and you've given the candidate a chance to respond and the response doesn't cast doubt on the story, do you publish it? Yes. Voters certainly have a right to know that.'' - New York Times Executive Editor, Bill Keller.

Maybe voters don't have the right to know... Something smells VERY ROTTON at the Times.

More updates to follow, including some new info on THIS PHOTO which has been the subject of some recent discussion.

BULGE NEWS:• THE BULGE UNVEILED??? A reader has submitted THIS PHOTO from the back cover of David Frum's book, "The Right Man : The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush" as listed on Amazon.com. AMAZING. Is this the bulge or just a normal radio of some sort? Note that the size/shape is about correct, and the long wire is also present. If this device was worn on Bush's back, under a jacket with the wire snaking over the shoulder it could look exactly like the bulge. Compare to other Bulge pics in the PHOTO GALLERY .- Audio experts and geeks: what is this thing?

• There have also been numerous reports of Bulges, wires, and coaching in the last week as President Bush has been in Europe on a "goodwill" tour. I looked closely at several photos sent in to BushWired, and didn't see anything worth posting in the PHOTO GALLERY. In fact, I'm certain most photos are simply translation earpieces as in this PHOTO from the White House site .

BACK ON TOPIC:How can it be that such a simple question, "What was the bulge on president Bush's Back" has turned into a strangely woven web of mystery? Why is this story so persistent and popular? Entering the sixth month of this odd Bulge story we still don't have any conclusive answers, and the search for a plausible explanation continues. People still want the truth...

I feel the Bulge debate has shifted off-topic in the last months. In the weeks before the election we all screamed for some sort of serious media "investigation" into the very obvious Presidential Bulge. Some questions were asked by the media but the story was largely dismissed. We all know now that the New York Times decided to "kill" its story on the Bulge the week before the election. If serious media investigation had occurred it very well may have had an effect on the election results... we'll never know.

I feel any sort of serious reporting on the Bulge is important and needed. The story is real and the possible ramifications of the Bulge are quite serious and even disturbing. The pubic and bloggers everywhere are right to harshly criticize the press for ignoring this story... they are not doing their job. I'm happy that the New York Times had to admit and answer to its killing of the Bulge story.

Nevertheless, all the criticism of the media has also served to water down the main point of the Bulge mystery... WHAT IS IT? While we all focus on the media we forget that there is an answer out there. There are so many unanswered facets to this mystery, if the media won't look into further, people will need to do it on their own...

- What happened to the investigation of further VIDEO evidence that Bush wore a wireless coaching device? In addition to the hotly debated "Chirac" video (see this thread from Cannonfire) , there have been numerous reports of other video and audio tapes where prompting was documented. Salon reported on this previously, and had a source who promised to release some audio recordings... I never heard any follow-up.

- I'm not a total believer in the "Defibrillator Theory", but I do admit that it is interesting and has some good supporting "evidence". In fact, this theory has actually gained steam in the last months and I think the topic is still worthy of debate in addition to the Coaching Theory.

- Photos. There are a lot of photos of President Bush; online, magazines, video, etc... I'm sure there are many more Bulge photos yet to be found ... It will take many more eyes than my own to find them. Remember how important the few photos of the Bulge have been, without them we may still be talking about a 'fabric pucker". Please, take a look around the "internets" and share any links to photos in the comments section below!

- Please post any interesting Bulge info in the comments section as well... thats what makes these blogs work!